Of carob trees and diamonds
And of carats, karats, and carrots
My guide, Medo, walked over to a tree and asked if I knew what kind it was. I proudly responded, “Yes, a carob tree!”
Not a tough question. After all, they’re almost anywhere you look here on the island of Vis or elsewhere in Dalmatia–in the wild, in cultivated fields, and even emerging from stone walls.
My internal thought bubble continued.
They often bear hundreds if not thousands of pods, drooping toward the ground.
People on the island make carob powder from the seeds found in the pods. They then use carob powder to make bread and other baked goods as a low-fat, low-calorie, caffeine-free, high-fiber alternative to chocolate. It’s also dense in nutrients, and the sugar is natural and greatly offset by the fiber. Some Dalmatian islanders, like my friend Pero Santic on the island of Brac, make carob liqueur.
A few months from now, when the green seed pods ripen to a deep brown, you can even open them, pop the seeds in your mouth, and have a tasty, nutritious treat.
As if reading my know-it-all thought bubble, Medo responded, “OK, great. Now do you know what carob pods have to do with diamonds?”
Bubble burst, I responded, “No.”
He pulled a green pod off a tree, opened it, and revealed the seeds.
“Every carob seed has the same weight,” he explained. “It doesn’t matter the size of the tree or pod. And they can be found everywhere around the Mediterranean. So, in early times, gem traders in Africa used carob seeds to find out how much a diamond weighed.”
Traders placed the diamond on one side of the scale and carob seeds on the other until the two sides balanced.
In ancient Greek, the word for “bean pod” was “kerátion.” This evolved to the Arabic word “qīrāṭ,” which became the medieval French and Italian word “carat.” From there, it entered the English language.
By the early 20th century, the weight of one carat was standardized at 200 milligrams, where it remains today.
In case you’re wondering, “carat” shares etymological origins with the words “carrot” and “karat.” But you’ll have to read elsewhere about that.